The Washington critic., 1887-06-08
WASHINGTON CRITIC
TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Some newspaper writer has recently
made nice arithmetical calculation to
show how much 1t costs Mr.. Cleveland to
live and just how much of his salary he
can save. The conclusion Is that Mr..
Cleveland will retire from the White
House $25, 900 the richer for each year
he stays In It, or that, assuming he
has two terms, he will have saved up
100000 by 1903. Such reasoning,
says the Washington correspondent Of
the Buffalo Courier, is fallacious. The
wants and necessities of Presidents
vary as widely as those Of other people.
As well attempt to say what 1t costs a
Senator or Representative TO live
when you know what his salary
is, what the size Of his family
and the amount he pays for house
rent. There Is Senator Leland Stan.
ford, for instance. His family consists
Of two persons, and his salary from the
Government Is So, 900 a year. Itwould
be easy to assume that he saves $4,000,
but am informed that his living ex.
penses are really $100,0 q year. and
that more than half of this sum is spent
In Washington during his winter so
journ here. On the other hand,
know Of Senator from a Southern
State who lives comfortably and sup.
ports family of three or four children
on 81, 900 year, and saves the rest of
his salary for rainy day. He lives
In o modest house on an unfashionable
street, buys neither books nor pictures,
rides in horse cars instead of carriage
.taa 1,t al Ill
ties Of the rich. There Is another
statesman who never brings his family
TO Washington, and lives at cost OF
IS week In o boarding. house. But
these economical ones are the excep.
tions. A majority of our lawmakers
spend from twice to ten times their
Salaries every year.
~
An ancient oil portrait Of Thomas
Ewing, Ohio's noted United States
Senator and lawyer, the old "salt
boiler" has been hung in the rooms of
the Ohio Society in New York as a
loan from Colonel g. W. Moulton.
The portrait is regarded by the Ewing
family as remarkable likeness. 1t
was formerly hung in the Burnett
House at Cincinnati, where 1t was left
by the artist, and the New York
Tribune tells its history. When
Thomas Corwin was Secretary of the
United States Treasury he designated a
bank at Columbus as depository of
United States funds. The bank
failed. A suit was brought by Cor
wins successor against the directors of
the bank and against Corwin himself for
the amount lost The case was tried at
Cincinnati, Senator Ewing being en-.
gagged to defend Corwin, and doing so
successfully. In Cincinnati at that
time was the artist Thomas Quick.
His studies for the painting were made
In the courtroom during the progress
of the trial. He would sit where he
could watch the great lawyer for an
hour or so and then go to his studio to
reproduce on canvas the impressions
Of his study. 1t was the only way In
which he could secure sittings from
his subject, and the portrait was fin.
ished before the Senator knew of the
fact that he was being observed for
this purpose.
~.
Mr. Curus, III MS laSt w aSnlnbtOn
letter to the Chicago Ne,os, says: Sec.
retary Sherman is little of on his
figures in the speech he made at Spring.
field. He said that the Administra ation
had filled the foreign legations with
Confederate major. generals, and that
more than majority of the men who
represent US abroad in the diplomatic
and consular service fought to destroy
the Union in the rebel army. The reg.
lister of the State Department shows
that there are in the diplomatic and
consular service 106 men from the
Southern States and 233 from the
Northern States. OF those holding the
more important positions, 1t shows that
10 are from the Southern States and
148 from the Northern States. OF those
who receive more than $40, 900 salary
that is, first, second and third class
ministers-seven are from the North
and six from the Southern States. OF
those from the Southern States, but
three were 10 the Confederate service.
OF the total of 1906 appointees from the
Southern States, 81 only were in the
rebel army.